Castrating butcher calf

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fnfarms1

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Miami, OK (NE OK)
Typically I band my calves at birth with dose of tetanus antitoxin, work then 1-2 months later. This year I opted to leave them bulls until fall. But I had to buy an extra butcher calf this year, needs cut. I know a lot of you will say knife only. But what about the emasculators? The crimp/pinch deal. Saw vet do it once, nice on how bloodless it is. Also bigger calf I banded few months ago swelled up pretty good, I’ve seen ppl say to band and split the bag to prevent swelling but seems like good way for infection
 
fnfarms1 said:
Typically I band my calves at birth with dose of tetanus antitoxin, work then 1-2 months later. This year I opted to leave them bulls until fall. But I had to buy an extra butcher calf this year, needs cut. I know a lot of you will say knife only. But what about the emasculators? The crimp/pinch deal. Saw vet do it once, nice on how bloodless it is. Also bigger calf I banded few months ago swelled up pretty good, I’ve seen ppl say to band and split the bag to prevent swelling but seems like good way for infection
Click to expand...
I've never used the crimp tool because I've always banded at birth, but I've seen them used and those that use them on older animals have never told me any bad things about them. Seems a good idea to me.
 
My instrument of choice today is a burdizzo clamp. As an option, I have also eaten young bull, no detectable difference from a steer that I could tell. Admittedly, have cut a number over the years, and never had a problem with those. For a time, banded a few fair calves, and buried one that developed tetanus.
 
Under 3 months.....If the cheerio fits...

I have eaten 17 mo old bull, no issues.

I ate my 5yo bull and ground meat was great. Filets were ok, figured the steak was going to be chewy so we made 30lbs of steak-um (thin, almost shaved/ hat tip to the 80s) cut sirloin meat. Would ground another no hesitation.
 
The only problem with eating a bull is if the animal is something that should have been castrated so it wouldn't breed cows...

I've raised duel purpose bull calves. The first purpose was to be a clean-up bull so they had to be "bull material", something worthy of breeding. And the second purpose was to feed up and go in the freezer. As said by @Nick Wagner a young bull eats just fine. In fact they give you more meat per pound of carcass and they marble and finish as well as a steer at a young age.

If the bull isn't something you would use for breeding, Murphy's Law will have his calves in your pasture next year.
 
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I have a friend who will band a bigger one. About 3 days later he runs them back in and cuts off everything about half an inch below the band. It is dead so they have no feeling. Nothing left to swell. I never asked but I would give a tetanus shot if I did this.
 
Nick Wagner said:
My instrument of choice today is a burdizzo clamp. As an option, I have also eaten young bull, no detectable difference from a steer that I could tell. Admittedly, have cut a number over the years, and never had a problem with those. For a time, banded a few fair calves, and buried one that developed tetanus.
Click to expand...
So there are different sizes. 12”, 14” etc. Does it matter the size of the calf? Pretty sure that’s just the size of the handles so guessing not.
Dave said:
I have a friend who will band a bigger one. About 3 days later he runs them back in and cuts off everything about half an inch below the band. It is dead so they have no feeling. Nothing left to swell. I never asked but I would give a tetanus shot if I did this.
Click to expand...
already given tetanus vaccine, part of reason he’s not banded yet. I feel that a steer marbles out better than a bull. This was a salebarn but due to only 9 steers from my herd last year. He was bought to fill orders hopefully. Definitely not a herd bull quality, but was 1500 for a 625lb rWF calf.
 
Also bigger calf I banded few months ago swelled up pretty good, I’ve seen ppl say to band and split the bag to prevent swelling but seems like good way for infection
Click to expand...
Splitting the bag is to prevent infection.

If you gonna band them then slit the bag, just slit the bag and pull the testicles out.
 
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fnfarms1 said:
Looks to me like you could use zip tie and do same thing unless you have grip issues that prevent you from getting it tight
Click to expand...
I tried that on a lamb once and it didn't end well. I've also tried rubber bands (elastics?) to dock a lamb and that didn't work well either. I like to experiment, and was curious. But I'd stick with the methods sold to do the job, or a knife.
 
Travlr said:
I tried that on a lamb once and it didn't end well. I've also tried rubber bands (elastics?) to dock a lamb and that didn't work well either. I like to experiment, and was curious. But I'd stick with the methods sold to do the job, or a knife.
Click to expand...
Good to know. I’d thought it’d work too.
 
angus9259 said:
Have ya'll seen the zip bandit crastrator bands? They look awesome. I ordered a couple.
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They work very well. Just make sure that when you apply them, the locking piece goes all the way to the rubber. That can be difficult to do if it is a large bull. I use a small pair of vice grips to grab the end and make sure it reaches the rubber. I don't use them often, but I have used them when they first came out on a bull that I felt was too big to cut.
 
fnfarms1 said:
Looks to me like you could use zip tie and do same thing unless you have grip issues that prevent you from getting it tight
Click to expand...
A normal zip tie won't work correctly. The zip bandit has a small piece of rubber that allows the tie to continually tighten as the scrotum shrinks. As I said above, the locking piece must be tightened all the way so that it meets the rubber, or it won't work.

Zip-Bandit-Product-Side-View-of-Castration-Band-min-min.jpg
 
I bought a California bander for any to big for my XL bander. The XL is pretty tough to even get 1 nut at a time worked through it. This one I’m talking about will be to big I think, guessing he’s 1000ish lbs. do you split the bag still? Thinking I’ll just run him back through in about 3 days and cut off the bag to prevent swelling long term
 
fnfarms1 said:
I bought a California bander for any to big for my XL bander. The XL is pretty tough to even get 1 nut at a time worked through it. This one I’m talking about will be to big I think, guessing he’s 1000ish lbs. do you split the bag still? Thinking I’ll just run him back through in about 3 days and cut off the bag to prevent swelling long term
Click to expand...
Take it to a vet and have them cut it for you. Its usually dirt cheap. Ask them what shots to give. You may want to give a tetanus before and they can give one there.

Cutting after putting a band makes no sense. If you are getting swelling and stuff there is a problem. Cutting a slit may just mask the problem and make the situation worse.
 

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